Picture-hanging device



(NE Mode l.)

CJM. BARNES & W. S. HILL.

PICTURE HANGING DEVICE.

Patented June 28, 1887.

N. PETERS. Phdo-Ulhcgmphur. Washington. D. I;

UNITED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

CHARLES M. BARNES AND WARREN S. HILL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

PICTURE- HANGING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 365,426, dated June 28, 1887.

V Application filed July 30, 1886. Serial 'No. 209,599. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known thatwe, CHARLES M. BARNES and \VARREN S. HILL, citizens of the United States, and residents of Boston, Suffolk county, State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Picture- Hanging Devices, of which the following is a specification.

I ing rib or molding while the operator stands upon the floor.

-Our invention further consists in certain details of construction fully set forth herein after.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view illustrating one form of our device for hanging pictures, showing also the manner in which it is used. Fig. 2 is a side view of the hook-holder shown in Fig. 1, but in this instance the holder is provided with a support formed of two-bars. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the holder shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating another form of holder in which the hook is clamped positively. Fig. 5 is a side view of Fig. 4c.

The device consists, essentially, of a support for the pietureframe and a holder for the hook constructed to hold the latter in position with the cord running through the eye of the hook, while the frame is held by its support or hangs from the hook.

The support for the frame consists of one or more bars'or rods, A, preferably provided with an adjustable rest, so that the pictureframe may rest with its back against the rod or rods and with one of its transverse edges in contact with the said rest. In Fig. 1 a single bar, A, is shown as constituting the support, and upon this bar slides a movable sleeve, 1, provided with a set-screw, 2, and with atransverse rod or cross-piece, 3, which constitutes a bearing for the frame, and may be covered with felt orothermaterial to prevent it from wounding the frame. The holder for the hook B, which may be of the usual form, as shown,

or of any other suitable form, consists of a socket, 00, formed either in the end of the rod A or in a metallic head orblock, O, secured thereto. In Figs l and 5 a metallic block is shown as recessed along one edge, the recess extending from the top to form two side cheeks, 4 4, so thin as to be somewhat flexible and adapted to receive between them the hook B, the cheeks pressing slightly against the sides of the hook and holding it in place; and each cheek has a notch or recess, y, arranged to be opposite the eye 20 of the hook when the latter is placed in the socket, so that the cord or wire 7, connected at the ends to the eyes of the picture-frame, may pass through the eye of the hook B and through the notches y and downward to the frame when the latter A rests upon the crosspiece or bearing 3, Fig. 1, and'with its back against the edge of the bar A. When the frame and hook have thus been applied to and are supported by the bar and hook support, the frame may be elevated by lifting the bar A until the hook B is above the usual wall rib or molding, X, when it may be applied to the latter so as to engage therewith and be left thereon by drawing downward the bar A, when the hook will slip from its socket, carrying with it the cord 7, which will slip from the notches y y, the picture beingthus left supported upon the wall.

In order to facilitate the lifting of heavy pictures, the upper end of the rod'or support Al-may be providedwith a bearing roller, 8, turn'lng between ears 9 9, projecting from the bar A or from the head (J, which roller will rest against the wall as the picture is raised,

the facing of the roller being covered with rubber, felt, or other material to avoid wounding the wall. 7

In place of an open socket'constituting the holder for the hook, we prefer to support the hook between two j aws, which hold it positively with a spring-pressure, and to release it by opening the jaws after thehook has been placed upon the molding. One device embodying such a construction is illustrated in Figs. 1, 2,

and 3,-which show the head'O extended at one side to form a jaw, 19, and provided at the opposite side with ears 20 20, supporting a crosspin, 21, upon which vibrates a lever constituting the other jaw, 22, springs 23 23, wound upon the pin 21, and secured each at one end to one of the ears and at the other to the jaw 22, forcing the latter toward the jaw 19. A cord, 24, is secured to the lower end of the lever forming the jaw 22, and is passed over a guide roller, 25, and hangs in a position where 1t can readily be seen by the operator; or a wlre or chain provided with rings may be substituted for the cord. The hook B, after the picture-cord 7 has been passed through its eye, 1s placed between the open jaws, and the jaw 22 is then released, so that it will bear upon and clamp the hook against the jaw 19, as shown in Fig. 2, and to secure the hook more firmly the jaw 22 may be provided with a recess, 27, in its clainpingface, the sides of the recess preventing the lateral displacement of the hook, XVhcn the hook has been placed in position upon the molding X, the cord 24 is drawn downward, so as to open the jaws and release the hook, alter which the hanging device may be withdrawn, leaving the hook and picture suspended.

In the construction shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the head 0 is provided with two sockets for two diverging bars, A A, which form a better support for the picture than a single bar, the adjustable rest in this case consisting of pins 30, adapted to openings 29 in the bars.

It will be evident that the construction of the holder for the hook, whether it be a mere socket or a clamping-holder, will vary according to the character of the hook. It will also be evident that different devices may be employed For opening thejaws when the latter are used.

We do not here claim a socketed holder having yielding side lips.

The roller 8 may in some cases be dispensed with, and when light pictures archung they need not rest upon the bar or support A, but may hang directly from the hook as it is retaincd in its position in the holder.

\Vc are aware that grippers, pliers, and cutters have been arranged upon poles with cords for operating them from below; but these are distinguished from our device by the fact that they are not constructed to receive or retain a suspension-hook or to support a picture-frame and that they could not be used for such purpose.

Without limiting ourselves to the precise construction and arrangement of parts shown, we clai m 1. In a device for hanging pictures, the combination of a support for the picture and a holder carried thereby and constructed to receive and retain the suspension-hook with the picture-cord in the eye thereof, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, in a device for hanging pictures, of a picture-support and a holder carried by the support and constructed to retain detachably the hook with the picture-cord extending laterally'through it, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, in a device for hanging pictures, of a support provided with an adj ustable rest for the picture and a holder on said support for the suspension-hook, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a support, a holder formed of a fixed and a pivoted jaw adapted to a picture-hook, a spring for closing the pivoted jaw, and a cord or chain connected with the said pivoted jaw and extending downward to open it, substantially as described.

5. The combination of the socketed head 0, for the reception of supporting-bars and extended to form a stationary jaw, a movable jaw pivoted to the head, a spring for closing the jaws, and a cord extending from the movable jaw over a pulley downward, substantially as described.

6. The combination of the fixed jaw of a picture-hanger and a movable jaw having a recess, 27, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

7. The combination, with the support and hook-holder, of a roller, 8, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

8. The combination of the head G, carrying jaws for holding the hooks, and the support formed of diverging bars carrying the head, substantially as described.

9. The combination, with the holder for the hook, of the support formed of diverging rods provided with adjustable rest-pins, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

CHARLES M. BARNES. \VARREN S. HILL. \Vitncsses:

T. B. TIFFANY, F. L. FREEMAN. 

